How Long Does It Take to Get Unconditional Approval on a Home Loan?

FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 10:29
Last edited 25/02/2020 - 13:54

Hello,

I was wondering how long (in your experience) it took to get unconditional approval on your home loan.

We exchanged contracts on Friday last week so have the cooling off period ending Friday this week.

Last Friday the exchanged contract was sent to the bank lender, Sunday night they asked for more documentation (provided back same night) and on Monday the valuer inspected the property.

Apparently they are waiting on verification of documents now.

Anyone had experience on how long it takes from here? Will they give us an outcome before the cooling-off period ends on Friday?

Bank is with NAB directly with lender no broker.

NSW responders only please. Process varies by state.

Financial Home Loan

Comments

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/02/2020 - 10:33
    +2

    Banks usually take twice as long as half their usually processing time.

    I'm guessing you didn't use a solicitor or conveyancer to review the documents first? That's an incredibly short timeframe for the subject to finance clause - you do have this, right? Or are you relying on the 5 day cooling off? I hope not.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 10:55

      Yes, of course I used a solicitor? You might be confused as different states have different procedures. I'm in Sydney. Buying private treaty it's standard to have a 5 day cooling off period.

      • lunchbox99 on 25/02/2020 - 12:58
        +1

        Cooling off is not the same as a subject to finance clause. It is additional. Cooling off is literally "I've changed my mind"

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/02/2020 - 13:11

        Cooling off is different to a "subject to finance" special condition.

        Unless you want to take a dangerous risk, you must cancel the contract during cooling off if you don't receive unconditional approval in time.

        You can simply tell them you are willing to sign again with that special condition inserted. If they agree, you will have a right to cancel if finance is not approved - BUT please note you do not receive another 5 day cooling off allowing you to cancel for any reason.

        Your solicitor should have advised you of all this….

        • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 13:28
          +3

          Guys, you're from Melbourne and Queensland. The contracts and procedures are completely different there. No vendor in the Sydney market, particularly the high end locations, will accept a subject to finance clause. The cooling off period provides the time required to get unconditional approval and if more is needed you simply request an extension.

          • jjjaar on 25/02/2020 - 13:47
            +1

            @FreddyMerc: You might want to update your OP to include this information or to specify you want advice from NSW/Sydney users only.

          • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/02/2020 - 14:42
            +2

            @FreddyMerc: If they won't agree to a common special condition, why would they agree to extend the cooling period?

            Anyways, good luck.

          • HighAndDry on 25/02/2020 - 16:28

            @FreddyMerc: You're right, but the 5 day cooling off period is generally only enough to get final finance approval in circumstances where you're already pre-approved for finance - i.e. you've already submitted all your pay docs and the bank has calculated your borrowing capacity subject to valuation of the property (this is what's finalised in the cooling off).

            • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 16:45

              @HighAndDry: Yes, this was done, pre-approved a month ago and they did a full credit check and asked for payslips and all bank account transaction for past 6 months.

  • sweefu on 25/02/2020 - 10:42
    +2

    NAB is running at approx 4 - 5 business days for approval for direct transactions (not through broker) right now.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 10:56

      Might squeeze in then. Thanks.

    • OzFrugie on 25/02/2020 - 21:50

      How long if thru broker?

      • sweefu on 27/02/2020 - 11:24

        Approx 7 days currently, but reducing

        • FreddyMerc on 27/02/2020 - 14:12

          How do you find this out? Are you brokers or work for the bank? I can see when I log into online banking that there's been changes. Yesterday it said "done" next to verification at about 4:45pm and this morning I can no longer access the progress page it just saying "processing" on the general applications page.

        • OzFrugie on 27/02/2020 - 23:39

          reducing? are u saying lending criteria is getting more lax now hence faster approval?

          • sweefu on 28/02/2020 - 10:14
            +1

            @OzFrugie: No changes to lending criteria.

            NAB has a good refinance rebate on currently, this has increased their volume and blown out assessment time frames.

            They've got it back under control, so time frames to assess a file are coming down.

            • FreddyMerc on 28/02/2020 - 13:45

              @sweefu: My lender is also saying the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme applicants are clogging the system. They were about to issue the letter of offer and it went to file control this morning. Came back an issue around HECS debt as the payslip doesn't seperate this from our normal tax amount. Madness!

  • Gracey on 25/02/2020 - 10:44
    +1

    Supporting doc verification is currently at 3 business days for NAB, it could either be awaiting this or the valuation report may not of even made it to the bank yet. They will work at their speed regardless of whatever date its due, hopefully you get your unconditional before the end of the week and they don't come back Friday morning asking for more docs :)

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 10:58

      The lender asked me what the end date of cooling off was and ensured me we would get an outcome by then. I'm not so sure. Read a few stories about it taking 14 days.

    • FreddyMerc on 26/02/2020 - 18:57

      It looks like the verification is now done. I can see this when I log into the online portal. Still no approval. Hopefully tomorrow.

      • Gracey on 26/02/2020 - 22:47

        May be worth getting in contact with the vendor to pre organise an extension on the cooling off period in case its required, they may not take kindly to you dropping it on them on the Friday.

  • Clear on 25/02/2020 - 10:44

    Essentially 2 business days in my recent experience. Applied Friday and approved Monday as all the information I provided was automatically approved by the system.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 10:59

      Was this with NAB?

      • Clear on 25/02/2020 - 11:18

        Oh sorry I missed the NAB part. No it wasn't but still one of the big banks.

  • netjock on 25/02/2020 - 10:47

    Did you not do your contract "subject to finance" with a date which is 1 month after contract signing?

    Takes at least 4 weeks now. Think it took me closer to 6 weeks about 9 months ago.

    Pain in the back side but it stops people who shouldn't get loans from getting a loan.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 11:00

      As above. Different procedures for different states.

    • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 11:12

      Takes at least 4 weeks now

      Who are you with?

  • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 10:47

    Westpac was under 48hrs , which was impressive . This was for a direct transaction. This is the 3rd property we are financing through them though. Previously, they were averaging 5 business days.

    Edit: Sorry, just realised you were asking for NAB and we're with westpac.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 11:01

      Direct transaction means no broker?

      • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 11:11
        +1

        Yep.

  • Juicyoo on 25/02/2020 - 12:15

    Took us 5-6 weeks! So stressful and they wanted so many documents, went on for weeks of asking for bits and pieces but we got there in the end! But our situation was different as got pre approval before we signed the papers

  • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 12:58
    +1

    The last few times has been next business day for me.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 13:31

      With NAB or a different bank?

      • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 13:33
        +1

        Different bank. NAB took the longest and at about a week.

  • elgrande on 25/02/2020 - 13:08
    +1

    I would be looking to request an extension to the cooling off period to 10 days just to be safe. Doesnt hurt to ask.

    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 13:29
      +1

      Yes, I'll do that if needed, the lenders are still saying it will be done in time. Finally someone from Sydney not telling me I need a month long subject to finance clause!

      • djkelly69 on 25/02/2020 - 13:57
        +1

        They are not wrong - finance approvals can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. It does not matter which state you are, that is just how long it takes sometimes.

        Presumably they prioritise files such as yours, but there are no guarantees.

  • Ash-Say on 25/02/2020 - 13:49

    You can ask seller to extend deadline by 2 or 3 days. They are not obliged but generally they don't say no.

  • omgwtfbbqsauce on 25/02/2020 - 14:18
    +3

    Credit analyst here for one of the big 4's.

    Process does not vary as much as you think for different states.

    From my experience it is mostly dependent on the following in no particular order:

    1. How fast you as a customer is able to correctly provide all relevant documents to your financial institution.
    2. How many adequately train staff is able to competently assess your application. These roles have medium turn over rate and often can take 1 to 2 years to competently train staff.
    3. How internal conflict his handled between relationship managers vs analyst. As you maybe aware, relationship managers want a sale whereas it is the analysts job to ensure all procedures are met to meet the banking code of practice.
    4. The complexity of your income stream and your account conduct/credit history.
    • FreddyMerc on 25/02/2020 - 14:53

      They had all info from the pre-approval period. Should be easy enough, both Hospital employed Doctors with good credit borrowing well below means.

  • ty99234 on 25/02/2020 - 14:34
    +1

    ANZ did a great job for me last time.
    Ubank failed to settle my loan due to the unreasonable amount of documents required.
    Switched to ANZ on Tuesday, the unconditional offer came in on Wednesday. My house was settled successfully on Friday the same week.

    My LVR is only like 12%, not sure if this makes any difference.

  • Meho2026 on 26/02/2020 - 01:35

    If it’s not done in the 5 days, you’re solicitor will request an extension from the vendors solicitor/conveyancer.
    It happens all the time and is rarely a problem.

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